About
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Michael Downey .net huh?
As you may have guessed, Knowing Nothing resides on my self-titled domain, for none other than haughty, puffed-up reasons. I’m a student studying Philosophy and Japanese at the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. I created Knowing Nothing purely out of the yearning to write about things that interest me and my penchant for playing with words.
And? Why should I read your blog?
Indeed. Against the millions of others, likely with daily updates and fecund content bursting with imagination, I feel I can hardy compete. But even so, if you happen to have an interest in Japan, a propensity towards philosophy or can share in my quirky love for bioluminescence, then by all means please give my journal a second thought! There is also likely to be a smattering of posts related to the internet, computer games, psychology, the outdoors, animals, and hopefully a little amateur photography thrown in here and there!
Knowing Nothing? Oh really now…
I know, it is tongue-in-cheek, but its inspiration certainly wasn’t. I based the name of my journal on the famous aphorism by the Greek philosopher Socrates:
“As for me, all that I know is that I know nothing”
It is intended to be a humbling expression of one’s own ignorance about the world, which I think it is an apt statement to make about a great many things in life. If only I could remember to follow it more often ^_^;. But do not fret! I will make every effort to ensure the content of the this journal is accurate, despite, um…knowing nothing…
What the heck is that blue circle?
The blue ring at the bottom of the page that I also created my favicon (the icon next to http://michaeldowney.net) with is actually a jellyfish! It’s based on a photograph taken from more or less underneath the jellyfish displaying its bioluminescence at some unfathomable depth in the ocean. To learn more about the first site design, please read this post: Knowing Nothing Relaunched! You can read about the current design here: Knowing Nothing - version 2!
Hey! Tell me more about your website.
It’s best viewed at 1280×1024 and above! That said, you can view the core content right down to 800×600, but the design won’t look quite as good. I’m currently on the second version of Knowing Nothing - the first used rotating banner images in the page header created from a variety of images. I keep a brief record of the design work I do here: Go to read about design stuff!
That kanji/vocab box is so cool! How’d you do it?
It’s all thanks to Srini’s Wordpress Laboratory and the ‘Quotes Collection’ plugin. I documented all my pains to get it working right here.
I can’t read Japanese!
I’ve made flag buttons to the right on the sidebar of Knowing Nothing that allow you to list only English or only Japanese posts for those readers who can’t read Japanese or do not want to view both languages. Unfortunately I will not be translating posts from either language except perhaps on special occasions. Currently however, my Japanese language ability is not good enough to write on difficult topics, so the majority of posts will still be in English!
Can I use the pictures on your website?
A tricky question. Many of the pictures and images I use are stuff I find through Google Image Search and, as such, any images that I didn’t create myself are subject to the copyright of the original owner. Most photographs on Knowing Nothing are taken by me. In fact, anything that I have made or photographed myself should have the words ‘Knowing Nothing’ watermarked on it. The website design and banners are also my own creation, so I request that you ask me before using any picture, image or photograph elsewhere. Finally, *all* photographs, pictures and images on Knowing Nothing are strictly for non-commercial use only, unless permission is received from the respective owner. *Phew*
If you have any doubt about using something on my website, please feel free to contact me. I’ll be happy to help and it’ll avoid a lot of headaches later on ^_^.
